Moreover take thou unto
thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the
city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou
shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

The last ten words of our key verse in our devotional reading
for today, "this shall be a sign to the house of Israel," expresses not
only the 4th chapter, our extended reading for today, but the entire
book of Ezekiel as it records the life and ministry of a unique man who
God gave a unique ministry.

What God would have Ezekiel do as a "street preacher" in front of the
Jewish people, Ezekiel's own people, would indeed be a "sign" to the
"whole house of Israel." Even the "tile" with Jerusalem drawn upon it
and the "iron pan" that Ezekiel would use were both object lessons to
the Jewish captives who had been taken into the Babylonian Captivity.

The Lord then has His prophet to lay in the street on his "left side"
for 390 days and then on his "right side" for 40 days for a total of 430
days. Each day was to represent a year of judgment to come upon the
Jews.

The Lord realized that His prophet would get both hungry and thirsty
during his "street" ministry. The Lord made provision for Ezekiel to
have about 8 ounces of meat every day,verse 10, and about one quart of water each day,verse 11.

Ezekiel would receive all the ingredients for the prophet to make his
bread daily and then God gave him very strange instructions. God told
Ezekiel that he was to bake his bread over a fire made out of "human
excrement" that was the result of a "bowel movement" done in public, verse 12.

Please excuse what may seem to you vulgarity but I am simply
quoting the text. This strange method of baking the bread was for the
purpose of revealing to the Jews that they would eat "defiled bread"
among the Gentiles as part of their judgment.

This
was an action that conveyed to the Jews the seriousness of their sin.
You will notice that the Lord did ease up on the baking of the bread and
told Ezekiel that he could substitute "cow dung" for "human dung."

I chose this passage to illustrate to each of us the extent, and
seriousness of God's judgment upon His people, the Jewish people.

I also believe that this passage best illustrates how a man who sees the "Glory of the Lord," Ezekiel 1:28, will be obedient to the Lord no matter what He calls him to do.

You may say, "But how can we see the Glory of the Lord?" The Psalmist told us inchapter 19, "the heavens declare the Glory of the Lord." That 19th Psalm also says that all of creation reveals the "Glory of the Lord."

Our problem is that we don't take advantage of the opportunities we have
to look and see the result of His glory. We must "stop and smell the
roses" and observe the "Glory of the Lord" so that we might follow His
directions without hesitation.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me, to recognize Your "glory", dear Lord, in Your "handiwork" in all of creation and then to be obedient to You.